1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure of an air cleaner, which is disposed in an engine room having an upper face covered with a hood, on a vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air cleaner that is an intake member is disposed in an engine room having an upper face covered with a hood and performs a function of cleaning fresh air drawn into an engine.
From a viewpoint of protection of a pedestrian at the time of crash, it is effective to have a long distance between the hood and the air cleaner to obtain a large deformable amount (crash stroke) for the hood.
However, recent vehicle engines are growing in size due to addition of new devices, which reduces a space for mounting the air cleaner in the engine room.
On the other hand, the air cleaner is not a member that can be simply miniaturized because it requires a certain volume for its function.
As a result, if the air cleaner having a necessary capacity for its performance is disposed in an area above a pair of left and right fender aprons or the like in the engine room without enough space above and below in an actual layout, it is impossible to have a sufficient distance between the hood and the air cleaner. Thus the deformation amount of the hood at the time of crash is reduced, shock absorbing performance is degraded, and the pedestrian or the like is not sufficiently protected.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-171849 proposes a shock absorbing structure in which an air cleaner (intake member) is formed of an upper half body and a lower half body fitted to each other and the upper half body can be guided by the lower half body and moved downward by a load from above. With this shock absorbing structure, when the hood is deformed downward by a shock of a crash to press the upper half body, the upper half body moves downward to allow deformation of the hood. In this way, it is possible to increase a crash stroke of the hood to thereby enhance a shock absorbing effect, even if it is impossible to have a large space between the hood and the air cleaner.
However, the shock absorbing structure proposed in JP-A No. 2005-171849 employs the structure in which receiving portions that can be fractured are formed at the lower half body of the air cleaner, the receiving portions of the lower half body are fractured by the shock at the time of crash, and the upper half body is moved downward along the lower half body. Therefore, the air cleaner cannot be used again and the structure of the air cleaner is complicated or destroyed.